Free A Very Russian Christmas by Roxie Rivera Page B

“What do you mean if ?”
    She traced the stitching along the curve of the steering wheel. “I don’t think I can accept this car, Nikolai. It’s…too much.” She fingered the diamond bracelet he had given her last year. “This was borderline, but I accepted it because I saw happy it made you to give it to me. This car?” She ran her hand along the dash. “It’s just way, way overboard for a gift between friends.”
    Between friends. The words shouldn’t have gutted him but they did.
    “I want you to have it, Vee.” He slashed his hand through the air. “This isn’t up for discussion. You’re keeping it.”
    She stared at him for an unnervingly long moment. “I’m not a member of your crew, Nikolai. You don’t get to use that tone with me.”
    Remembering the way he had hurt her feelings back at the party, he sought to make things right. “I shouldn’t have been so short with you when you needled me about which boss I was tonight. That was wrong of me, and I’m sorry if it hurt you.”
    “You did, but I know I crossed a line. Sometimes I forget that our friendship has rules.” She shrugged, as if nervous, and admitted, “I don’t always know what we are or what we’re doing.”
    He didn’t either. The last few weeks, especially, he seemed to be skating dangerously close to that line with her. “We’re friends. I’m your protector. I’m the man you come to when you have a problem that needs solving.”
    “Is that all you are to me?” She asked the question as if she didn’t know the answer.
    God, how he wanted to be more. He wanted to be everything to her. “It’s all I can be, Vivian.”
    She studied his face and then exhaled slowly. “Okay.”
    “You’ll keep the car?”
    She picked up her MP3 player and chose a Christmas playlist. “No.”
    “Vee—”
    “This car costs, like, five times what I earn in a year between working at the restaurant and selling some of my paintings. It is way, way beyond my means to keep it insured and do the required maintenance. It’s beautiful, Nikolai, but it’s not the car for me.”
    Recognizing that stubborn streak, he decided to table the discussion for tonight. He had absolutely zero intention of letting her give the car back. If she refused to keep the keys, he would leave it parked in front of her apartment building until she changed her mind. Two could play this game—and he would win.
    “The car has a service package. You just take it to Alexei Sarnov’s dealership, and they’ll handle everything. I’ve already arranged your insurance policy.” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he held up his hands. “All right. I’ll stop.”
    Despite her protestations about keeping the vehicle, it was clear that she loved driving it as she carefully navigated the wet streets and the surprisingly empty interstate. When they reached her apartment complex, she parked carefully and seemed almost reluctant to shut down the engine. He wanted to ask her if she had changed her mind but let the question die on his tongue.
    “Come inside with me. I’ll give you your gift since we’re breaking tradition this year.”
    “All right.” Kostya had pulled into a nearby space so he slid out of the front seat, ambled over to the SUV and retrieved all the gifts Vivian’s admirers had given her at the Christmas party. Annoyed with her reaction to the car, he wondered if she had turned down any of these men’s gifts. Not that it was the same situation, of course. Aaron, Oleg and the others who had given her pretty things to make her smile all offered her something he never could. They were openly attempting to court Vivian while he was…
    Well. What was he doing exactly? One moment, he wanted to drag her close and forever bind her to his side. The next, he pushed her away to keep her safe lest any of his enemies realize how desperately he loved her. He could only imagine how confused she was by the way he ran hot and cold with her. Hell, he was fucking